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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the top of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been following the progress of either team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the process. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped a considerable number from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are remaining until his deal expires, and awoke this day to discover the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he told reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful start to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the mix. In spite of being forced to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team besides the traditional powers can claim.